Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a writer in the 19th century. He was a medical doctor and an author. He wrote several stories about a private amateur detective called Sherlock Holmes. The stories were very popular in Victorian Britain and still are today. He was a very good detective and always saw that criminals were punished one way or another. But Sherlock Holmes does have his own bad points, he does smoke and he does take a number of drugs, this is important because he is catching criminals who are doing the same thing.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories were published in magazines, The Victorians took a liking to these stories, the poor people could buy them, and what happened in them (the just and fair endings) were exactly what the audience want to happen. The audience are surrounded in crime, they don’t feel that justice is always served, but in these stories it is always. The stories are still very popular today, they have been made into TV dramas and are still broadcasted quite frequently.
Even though a more modern audience still enjoy the stories, the same impact/effect does not take place on them, even though the justice carried out pleases them, the audience cannot relate to the time of place it is carried out. This is because it is set over a hundred years ago, a lot has changed in 1 century, fashion, building and roads, these small things make the story how it is.
Because all theses things are so different now, the stories seem almost set in a different world. The two main reasons that the stories are still popular today is because justice is carried out and Sherlock Holmes is an appealing character with appealing features. For instance he has this bad side (drugs etc), in modern society a bit of a bad boy is considered to be quite cool, as he is a good guy also he is an all round appealing character.
Dr Watson is a medical doctor, He is an intelligent man although Sherlock Holmes intelligence seems superior in any case that needs solving. Dr Watson does not pick up on clues as quickly as Holmes, even though he too is an intelligent man. Watson is also a caring character, he always makes sure victims are looked after and are ok. For instance he makes sure Helen Stoner is definitely ok at the end of The Speckled Band.
